


settle down with me

by minipine



Series: soulmates!au(s) [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, RAYCHAEL DEFENCE LEAGUE 2K14-ETERNITY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 05:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1766815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minipine/pseuds/minipine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in a black and white world, michael finally, <i>finally</i>, finds the person that leaks colour into his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	settle down with me

**Author's Note:**

> the main disclaimer here is that i know absolutely nothing about coffee shops, which is probably why this is so short. i literally know nothing. i don't even like coffee. i'm so sorry. the title is taken from [kiss me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFfKb_WEkCE&feature=kp) by ed sheeran!  
> massive thanks to kay for beta'ing this and being super nice! you're a godsend.  
> hope you enjoy! :-)

When Michael opens his eyes, he's greeted by a flash of colour that lasts until the very moment that he wakes up properly and bolts out of his bed, furiously rubbing his eyes. _  
_

"What. The. Fuck," he mutters to himself, holding his eyes closed with his own hands for a moment, not daring to open them. He shouldn't be _seeing_ in colour. He hasn't met his soulmate yet.

After steadily breathing in and out for a moment in an attempt to calm himself, he finally takes his hands away from his face and slowly opens his eyes, and he doesn't know if the sigh he lets out when he sees the world is back to dull shades of grey, black and white is because of relief or dejection. Either way, he doesn't stop to think about it, and instead ignores the weird feeling in his stomach as he makes his way to the bathroom to get a shower.

-

Michael lives in a world where everything is monochrome until the moment you meet your soulmate. At that point, everything begins to bloom with colour, like the way your heart is blooming with joy and love and whatever at the fact that you've met your soulmate. The one person that you're with forever. Your other half.

(Personally, Michael thinks he listens to Gavin spouting his weird romantic crap on their lunch breaks a bit too much. It's going to his head, he's sure of it.)

Either way, Michael doesn't really mind - he's already lived through a quarter of his life in black and white, so he can deal with it for longer. It's not like it stops him from doing the things he wants -  _hell_ , he's got tattoos all over his arms and he doesn't even know what colour they are, but they still look cool as fuck. Michael's fine with seeing nothing but monochrome. Really.

And sure, sometimes it sucks, overhearing conversations in streets and stores about how pretty the world is in colour, and how the sky changes from blue to orange to black as the sun sets, and it's fucking annoying when he gets jealous because he doesn't even know what most of those colours _are_ , but. He  _deals_ with it. He doesn't mind. Really.

-

Michael keeps getting flashes of colour throughout his day when he's doing the most random of things. He doesn't have names for the colours he's seeing, and they're bright and baffling and it's making him more and more anxious.

Google isn't giving him any results whenever he sneaks his phone out under the counter of the coffee-shop-slash-bakery that he works at, and when he asks his bosses, they share a gleeful look that makes Michael nervous.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Geoff says easily, waving a hand through the air absently. His heavy lidded eyes flicker to his soulmate, Griffon, and when Michael turns to look at her, her grin is wide and vibrant and kind of scary.

"Yeah. There's probably a reason for it. You'll probably figure it out," she says, and nudges Geoff's tattooed arm with her own tattooed arm. "Right, soulmate?"

"Exactly," Geoff says, and his moustache does something weird when he grins.

"What the fuck," Michael mutters to himself for the second time that day.

-

"Ooh, Michael!" Gavin coos from his left hand side, resting his arms obnoxiously over the glass display that covers the pastries. The one that Michael literally _just_ wiped clean. Michael stares long and hard at where Gavin's stupid lanky arms are pressed against the glass, but Gavin either ignores him or doesn't get the hint. "I wonder what it means."

"I don't know, idiot, that's why I'm trying to ask around," Michael says, rolling his eyes. He grasps the cup he's cleaning a little tighter in his hand when Gavin presses his palms against the glass of the display to help push himself up so he can move to Michael's right side instead, and Michael stops cleaning cups to switch to cleaning the glass of the display. Again. For the second time in an hour. He swears to God, one day he's going to be arrested for murdering Gavin, and he won't even be sorry.

"Hmm," Gavin says, looking thoughtful, and grabs the broom from where it's been resting against the counter for the past half hour and returns to sweeping the floor, which was his original job. Michael rolls his eyes again. "I mean, I can't help much, because I met Dan when I was young, so I can't remember much of what happened, but... oh, maybe you're gonna meet your soulmate soon, Michael!"

Michael can't help the way his shoulders stiffen, and he hopes Gavin doesn't notice. He's not scared, he reminds himself. He just doesn't like the finality and the restrictions of meeting your soulmate. That's it.

He forces himself to relax, slumping his shoulders and taking deep breaths. It's early in the morning but not so early that it's crammed with people trying to get their pre-work caffeine, which means the coffee shop is almost empty, and Michael thanks his lucky stars. He doesn't need customers seeing his mental breakdown.

"I dunno," Michael eventually says, after a long moment of drawn out silence. "I don't think so. I mean, I googled it, and the stuff that came up was useless and didn't say anything about that, so. Best not to guess."

Gavin hums thoughtfully again, and Michael hears the broom stop sweeping across the floor. "Michael?" Gavin says quietly, and Michael turns to look over his shoulder. Gavin gives him a soft smile. "You'll be alright, you know. Just let it play out as it needs to. It's okay to be worried about it."

Michael doesn't try correcting Gavin, because Gavin's his best friend and he'd probably just hit the back of his legs with the broom as punishment for lying and then proceed chortle at Michael's following curses anyway. Instead, he gives Gavin a wobbly sort of grin and promises himself that he'll stop bitching so much at Gavin for stacking the sugar tubs under the counter so badly.

-

Michael's in the back room of the shop when it hits lunch hour and the coffee shop starts to fill, washing up and absently wondering if he should go through and help Gavin with anything. It's a small store and they're the only two in today, because Barbara and Lindsay are off sick - or, one of them is actually sick, and the other is just staying off work to take care of the sick one. Michael kind of hates them. Fucking soulmates.

He's elbow deep in bubbles and hot water, totally lost in his thoughts of how  _he_ wants to be off too, screw Barbara and her summer cold, when he gets another flash of colour. It's bright and shocking and his eyes almost ache with how vibrant it is, and he promptly breaks the glass he's currently washing under the soapy water. It takes him a second to register that he's bleeding, and he pulls his arms out of the water, cursing under his breath.

By the time he finds something to stop the blood flow, he's been forced to switch to more creative insults, because 'fuck' and 'shit' just isn't doing it any more. "Cocksucking fucking colour flashes," he mutters, pressing down on the tea towel against his hand, hissing as another wave of pain pulses through his arm. "Gavin!" he yells, and squeezes his eyes shut as another flash of colour makes his vision swim. "Get the first aid kit, oh my god. I'm bleeding out."

He distantly hears the clatter of spoons and cups, followed by Gavin's heavy footsteps. When he looks up from where he's sitting on the floor, his head between his knees, Gavin's looking vaguely worried, and Michael is still getting odd flashes of colour in his vision. He hates his life. "What's wrong, Michael?"

"I'm dying," he shoots back, scooting back against the wall and holding his hand out to Gavin, who's pulled a bunch of stuff out of the first aid kit. "No, but I got distracted by fucking colour and ended up smashing a glass in the sink. It dug right into my palm."

Gavin frowns, gently taking Michael's hand and pulling away the bloody tea towel. He pulls a face when he sees the state of Michael's hand, but otherwise stays silent until he's wiped Michael's skin clean. He's pressed a pad against Michael's hand and he's wrapping gauze around it before he starts to speak again, and his words just make Michael's head spin once more. "I want you to stay in the front of the shop with me," he says, looking Michael dead in the eye. "I think you're gonna meet your soulmate today. There's no other thing that this could be."

"Shut up," Michael says, and Gavin just rolls his eyes and wraps the gauze a little tighter around his hand. "I just- it couldn't have just happened as soon as I'd stepped out of the house. It had to be dragged on all day. I don't even need this."

"Stop being daft," Gavin says firmly, holding the gauze with one hand as he attempts to pull apart a roll of medical tape with the other hand. Michael sighs and leans out to grab the roll so Gavin can pull a piece off. "You're meeting them today, and that's that."

"You can't make me," Michael says, a little petulantly, and hisses when Gavin presses tape down purposely hard over the cut on his hand. "I'll go to Geoff and get him to let me off."

Gavin snorts, sitting back on his heels as he piles things back into the first aid kit in an utterly unorganized fashion. "Whatever you say."

-

"No," Geoff says, not even looking up from where he's sitting at his desk.

"Why?" Michael asks, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm injured, Geoff. Let me go home. I need to rest."

"No," Geoff repeats, finally putting down his pen and notebook so he can look up at Michael. "Gavin needs help and I'm not calling anybody else in to cover your shift at this time. It's too late."

" _Geoff_ ," Michael says, totally exasperated, and Geoff simply ignores him, going back to scribbling whatever in his notebook. "What if I get an infection?"

"Gavin might look like an idiot, but I assure you, he can wrap a hand in gauze perfectly well."

Michael sighs heavily. "Is this because of the damn soulmates thing I said about earlier? Because it's fine, honestly. I'm fine about that."

Geoff's moustache twitches slightly. "Go help Gavin serve people cake or something. I didn't hire your ass to stand in my office all day."

Michael huffs and turns on his heel, and if he sort of slams the door of the office when he shuts it, nobody comments on it.

-

It's almost closing time, and there are about five people maximum in the shop, not including themselves. It's kind of ridiculous.

"Gavin, this is ridiculous," Michael says, aimlessly picking at the tape on his hand. Gavin slaps at his hands until he stops. "I've got a half hour left before I can go home, and I haven't met my soulmate yet. You were wrong. You owe me."

"Half an hour is long enough for _fate_ ," Gavin dismisses, turning back around to stack jars full of tea, and Michael bites his tongue so he doesn't make a stupid British joke. "Anyway, even if you don't meet your soulmate, the colour flashes have stopped, so you have no reason to complain or injure yourself any more than you already have."

Michael just huffs and continues picking at the tape on his hand. At this point, he's just waiting for his shift to end so he can go home and coop himself up in bed with a shitty movie and takeout, safe in the darkness of his duvet. It's silent for a long moment after that, with the gentle noises of Gavin working being the only thing that's breaking the silence, until the bell above the door rings, which signifies a customer, which means that Michael has to actually put in some _effort_ into not being a total grouch, and Michael forces himself to stand up straight from where he's been sprawled against the wall for the last ten minutes.

He's at the front counter within a matter of seconds, and he's plastered on a smile in an even shorter amount of time. He squints at the shadowy figure that's making it's way to the counter, silhouetted by the sunlight that's streaming into the shop from the open door, and he's absently reminded of a horror movie. (If he dies today, he's going to come back as a ghost and haunt Gavin for the rest of his stupid life. At least he'll probably die smiling.)

"Uh, hi," the mystery figure says, finally coming into view, and colour  _bursts_ into Michael's vision.

He can hear the equally surprised noises coming from the guy he'd managed to get a glimpse of in front of the counter, but he's too busy blinking hard and rubbing his eyes to focus much on him, because oh, fuck, he can see in  _colour_. " _Jesus_ ," Michael spits, knuckling his eyes. "God, a little bit of warning would have been fucking nice."

"Are you talking to me?" He hears from in front of the counter, even though he's pretty sure the guy - his  _soulmate_ , what the fuck - is still rubbing his own eyes. "Because trust me, I wasn't expecting this when I came in here for a coffee."

"I'm talking to the world," Michael answers, finally bringing his hands away from his eyes to carefully blink, taking in everything around him. At first it's so bright it hurts to keep his eyes open, but he squints past it, and as the colours begin to fade to something a little less eye-wateringly bright, he feels kind of breathless. He's never really realized just how much he was missing out on, but God, seeing in colour is so much more than he'd expected. "Shit, this is intense."

After a moment, his eyes end up flickering to his soulmate ( _his soulmate_!) all of their own accord, and Michael watches as the guy across the counter rubs furiously at his eyes from under his glasses. His skin is a nice colour Michael doesn't know the name of, and his hair is dark and looks soft, and Michael might be kind of smitten already. He leans on the counter as he waits for the other guy to stop rubbing his eyes, and by the time over-the-counter-soulmate-guy has stopped rubbing his eyes and has started blinking owlishly at Michael from behind his glasses, Michael has been creepily staring at him for like five minutes. _  
_

When they make eye contact, Michael flushes but doesn't look away. Instead, he straightens up slightly and flashes a smile. "Hey," he says, and can't seem to stop himself from nervously tugging on the bottom of his work shirt. "I'm Michael."

"Ray," his soulmate says, and meets Michael's smile with a grin, holding his hand out for Michael to shake. It's a weirdly formal action, but when they make contact, it feels like Michael's finally found something he didn't even know he was missing. "It's so great to finally meet you."

Michael feels himself grinning, and everything feels so easy with Ray, despite the fact that they've spoken two sentences to one another. Michael lets go of Ray's hand to turn around, and he's tugging his apron over his head and calling out to Gavin before he can stop himself. "Gavin, I'm ending my shift early!"

"What, no!" Gavin calls back from somewhere in the back of the shop, and appears in front of Michael from nowhere. "You've still got fifteen minutes left of your- oh." His eyes flick from Michael to Ray, and his face breaks out in a grin within seconds. "Michael Jones, you owe me big time," he says, all stupidly smug with his arms folded across his chest, and Michael just rolls his eyes and thrusts his apron into Gavin's arms.

"Whatever, dude, I'll give you money or something tomorrow," he says, stepping impatiently away from Gavin as soon as Gavin's taken his apron. "Don’t tell Geoff he was right, either. I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Gavin just laughs, rocking back on his heels. “Sure, okay, whatever. Go with your loverboy and look at the sky and stuff.”

“God, shut _up_ ,” Michael groans, turning to face Ray again. For a second, he thinks about doing something cool to impress Ray, like jumping over the counter, but decides against it because hey, Ray’s stuck with him forever now.

For once, Michael’s looking forward to it.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked itttt :-)


End file.
